USOSCE Statements

U.S. Reaffirms its Commitment to the People of Ukraine

As delivered by Ambassador Daniel B. Baer to the Permanent CouncilVienna, February 27, 2014

The United States continues to monitor events in Ukraine –
and obviously they are changing, as our Ukrainian colleague knows, hourly –
particularly during this critical period of transition. We applaud the efforts of Ukraine’s new
leadership towards building a coalition government and laying the ground work
for early elections. We of course also
followed the confirmation of the appointment of Andriy Deshchytsia as Acting Foreign
Minister; obviously he’s well known to the OSCE family and well respected and
we look forward to working with him again in his new capacity as well as
continuing to work with the delegation here. We continue to stand with the
Ukrainian people to help them build the strong, sovereign, and democratic
country they deserve and clearly want.

The United States commends Chairman-in-Office Burkhalter’s continued
engagement on Ukraine, and notes that he has repeatedly confirmed the OSCE’s
readiness to assist Ukraine in securing a peaceful way forward. We applaud the Chairmanship’s offers, and welcome
the nomination of Ambassador Tim Guldimann to serve as the Chairmanship’s
Personal Envoy to help assess Ukraine’s needs and develop potential measures of
support. I take special note here of
Ambassador Prokopchuk’s update on various areas in which the new government
welcomes the assistance and engagement of the OSCE; we think this is a good
step forward and also demonstrates the redoubled commitment of the Ukrainian
authorities to OSCE principles.

The United States reaffirms our commitment to the people of
Ukraine. We strongly support Ukraine’s
unity and territorial integrity – and I take note of Ambassador Prokopchuk’s
recalling of the Budapest memorandum – and healthy relations with all of its neighbors,
including Russia. We also emphasize the
urgent importance of the Rada’s efforts to form a multi-party, technical
government – that has been confirmed this afternoon – that represents all
regions of Ukraine.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Context

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